First of all, great article. Too many people (including myself at times) underestimate the power of rest days. Really good reminder this article.
You mention that most people can train 4-5 days a week sustainably (and I do agree with this). I’ve found that 3-4 days per week tends to be good for me. I was thinking however, of doing your 6-day a week hypertrophy program (the best workout program for natural lifters). Obviously I know there many factors to consider, especially the stressors in my life currently, but I just wanted your opinion on me starting the program. It looks great and would love to give it a try, but do you think 6 days a week is too much for most people?
P.S. I do know in the design of that program, you do account for the increased frequency with a reduction in volume.
Just to clarify (for someone to answer who’s smarter than me), are you replacing all of your lifting days with BJJ or just two of your lifting days with it?
Congrats on starting BJJ and on all your dedication in the gym. And thanks for all the great interaction on Twitter. We appreciate it.
Hi, great article here, but my situation is a bit different from most on here: I’m wondering what your thoughts are on a training regimen that is nearly all " greasing the groove". I take a rest, or growth, day only about every 5-8 days, sometimes even less, and the reason is, I was instructed to never put anymore weight on a barbell than what I weigh, for lower body exercises, after my hip replacement. Was advised that going heavier exponentially increases the risk of dislocation or breakage of the stem head.
I also have a wrist fusion plus ongoing osteoarthritis in many of my upper body joints, and again, was advised to lift lighter weights to slow down the advance of joint deterioration and basically what I’m left with is going all-in on higher rep, lower weight training that doesn’t overstress the joints. So even though I rep out my sets to near failure, I’m never actually creating enough mechanical stimulus to " micro-damage" any muscle tissue and therefore I’m able to do a push-pull split every day without feeling soreness. The odd day that I do feel drained I take a growth day, but it always includes a lot of foam rolling, stretching and walking.
Since my gains are slow due to low weight, and my CNS isn’t overtaxed with heavy lifting, by giving each pushing and pulling groups of muscles a day off with that type of split, is there any need to increase rest days if I continue this style of training? I’m 53, in excellent shape, and usually feel pretty good each morning but I’m wondering if adding a growth day here and there will decrease any gains with greasing the groove training, or help?